Clinical Psychology

The Duquesne University Psychology Department is internationally renowned for its scholarship in human science psychology. The Department educates students to be sensitive to the assumptions that underlie any effort to understand human beings, and the historical, cultural, relational, and embodied character of all human thought and activity. Accordingly, faculty and graduate students attend to the multiple meanings of existence, working towards the liberation and well-being of persons individually as well as in community, and do so with a deep and abiding consideration of ethics.

As you work toward your Ph.D. in clinical psychology, you are immersed in an advanced course of study specializing in human science approaches to clinical psychology, integrating theory, research and clinical practice.

The Program involves four years of full-time coursework in residence at Duquesne University. During these four years of full-time study, students must successfully complete 73 credits of coursework, six semesters of clinical practica at our in house training Clinic, two semesters of field practica, and the comprehensive exams. A dissertation and a one-year pre-doctoral internship are also required. All degree requirements must be completed within 6.5 years; our 10-year average time to degree is 6.35.

Accreditation

The program has been accredited by the American Psychological Association since November 2001 and is listed in the Doctoral Psychology Programs Meeting Designated Criteria developed and published by the Association of State and Provincial Psychology Boards and National Register.

*Questions related to the program's accredited status should be directed to the Commission on Accreditation: 

Office of Program Consultation and Accreditation 
American Psychological Association 
750 1st Street, NE, Washington, DC 20002 
Phone: (202) 336-5979 / E-mail 
APA Accreditation

Student Admissions, Outcomes and Other Data

Careers

With a Ph.D. from Duquesne, you will be positioned to establish careers in independent practice, community clinics, medical and managed care facilities, and in academic and research settings.

Application Deadline 

Students should submit their application no later than December 2.

The applicants will be notified about interviews in late January. All interviews will be held via Zoom on two or three Fridays in February, dates to be announced.

Program Information

At Duquesne, you will gain broad exposure to both human and natural science psychology; our focus is firmly rooted in traditions that honor what is unique to human experience. Our coursework and applied training foster critical thinking, self-reflection, ethical practice and creative attention to the nature of psychological life.

Degree

Doctorate

School

McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts

Academic Department

Psychology

Required Credit Hours

73

Program Requirements

Our scholar-practitioner model aims to educate psychologists whose clinical practice follows from, and is integrated with, a solid foundation of scholarship. This scholarship includes a) understanding the historical context of psychology, b) recognizing the philosophical assumptions that underlie research and clinical practices of psychologists, c) understanding the diversity of methods employed in research and clinical practice, d) critical reflexivity regarding one’s own assumptions and activities as a psychologist, and e) sensitivity to individual and cultural diversity and their implications for the practice of psychology.

From this model of training follows a core set of goals and learning objectives with respect to Profession-wide and program specific competencies. The Program’s goals are:

  1. To educate students to conduct themselves with a professionalism appropriate to the complex nature of clinical psychology, and that is founded on reflexivity, interpersonal competence, ethical principles, and a deep respect for cultural diversity.
  2. To prepare scholar-practitioners who are well grounded in the discipline of psychology conceived broadly as a human science.
  3. To educate and train students to competently conduct psychological assessments.
  4. To educate and train students to be competent psychotherapists.
  5. To educate and train students to be competent teachers and supervisors in psychology.

 

A minimum of 73 credits (excluding six credits for the dissertation) is required. There is a residence requirement, which is fulfilled while completing the coursework. 

513 Intro. To Qualitative and Interpretive Research
526 Phenomenology of Human Development
537 Psychology as a Human Science: History and Systems
543 Approaches to Psychopathology
545 Intro. To Psychotherapy
551 Social Psychology 
560 Physiological Psychology  
571 Intro. To Assessment    
612 Advanced Qualitative Research 
617 Research Practica--take 3 at 1 credit each
620 Philosophical Psychology:
623 Ethics & Standards (2 credits)
624 Experimental Research Methods 
640 Clinical Formulation  
665 Seminar in Consultation and Supervision 
671 Advanced Assessment
674 Psychology & Cultural Diversity 

Also required:

  • 1 credit Clinical Practicum (650) – for each semester that student is seeing clients at the Clinic for a total of 6 credits
  • 0 credit Psychology Colloquium (652) – attendance is required for 1st and 2nd year students,
  • 1 credit of Supervised Teaching of Psychology I (510)
  • 1 credit of Supervised Teaching of Psychology II (610)
  • 0 credit “Distinguished Speakers Workshop,” (weekend mini course held once a year)—attendance at two is required.
  • In addition to the above required courses, five 3 credit elective courses are taken, one of which must be a clinical elective. The clinical elective needs to be taken in either the third or fourthe year.

With the exception of “Distinguished Speakers Workshop” all “0” credit requirements are recorded on the academic transcript and must be met in order to graduate.

First, second, third, and fourth year doctoral students are offered assistantships that include a nine-month stipend and a waiver of tuition. These positions require 15 hours of work per week as a teaching and/or research assistant.
Students are required to complete a one-year pre-doctoral internship as part of the requirement for the Ph.D. in clinical psychology. Applications for internships are submitted during the fourth or fifth year of Ph.D. studies, with the internships commencing in the following summer. Although some internships are available locally, most students travel elsewhere for their internships.
Students are required to take this exam following their third year of graduate studies. The exam is completed during the week preceding the fall semester.
After completing coursework, students are required to write a dissertation and successfully defend it. During this time, they must register every fall and spring semester until graduation. Registration for six dissertation credits (one credit per semester) is required. Students who complete the six credits which are allotted for work on their dissertation (PSYC 701) are then required to register for continuous registration (zero credits) until the dissertation has been completed and defended. Registration for dissertation credits and/or continuous registration are considered full-time enrollment and students are eligible for loans.

Application Requirements

Submit the university application through the graduate application portal including a resume or curriculum vitae. 

All applicants to the Ph.D. program must have earned a Bachelor's degree at an accredited institution, and by the time of application completed a minimum of 12 credits of coursework in Psychology. We require that 6 of the 12 credits be from an Introduction to Psychology course and a Psychological Disorders course. In addition, and whereas it is not a requirement, we strongly recommend a course in the Psychology of Personality as well. The Bachelors degree does not have to be in Psychology.

If you are in the process of completing a degree, you may submit an up-to-date unofficial transcript with your application, followed by a final, official transcript upon enrollment as a Duquesne University graduate student. All other transcripts should be either emailed or mailed from the institution.  If mailing, use the following address:

Duquesne University
McAnulty Graduate School of Liberal Arts
600 Forbes Avenue
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15282

If your undergrad and/or graduate degrees are from an institution located outside of the United States, you must use a transcript credential evaluation service to obtain a course-by-course report. The official reports must be sent directly to Duquesne University from the organization you order through and will qualify as official transcripts.

In addition to the transcripts, the Psychology Department requires that simple list of psychology courses already completed be uploaded to the application site as well.

At least three confidential letters of recommendation must be submitted by those in a position to assess the applicant's past performance and future academic potential. Please use the graduate application portal to generate online requests for confidential letters of recommendation. Recommenders will receive instructions by email for uploading their letters directly to the Duquesne system.
In response to the following prompt and there are no length requirements:
Trace the development of your thinking with respect to psychology as a human science. Emphasize the authors and theories that have had the most impact on your conception of psychology. Discuss how you see the relationship between psychology and cultural diversity.
This should be an excellent example of your scholarly writing-there is no length or content requirement.

This applies only to international students. Scores should be sent electronically.

FAQs

Unsure of whether Duquesne's Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology is for you? We promise that our program is everything you've dreamed and more than what you've imagined. See below for some frequently asked questions, but we encourage you to reach out to the department to request more information.

Duquesne University's model for student mentorship is a little different from that of many other psychology Ph.D. programs. Students aren't accepted to work with a single professor; instead, students are accepted based on consensus of the entire admissions committee. During their first few years, Ph.D. students decide who on the faculty they'd like to ask to chair their dissertation. Students tend to work fairly independently to design and implement their projects, though of course faculty are available to give guidance and consultation. So as you decide whether to apply to Duquesne, you should be thinking about how Duquesne's overall human science orientation fits with your own plans and projects.

Currently Duquesne's Department of Psychology offers a combined M.A./Ph.D. program in Clinical Psychology. The student earns an M.A. in Psychology upon completion of 30 credits in the Ph.D. program. However, students are not admitted into the program for the purpose of obtaining only an M.A. degree.
Whereas the clinical training will make more extensive demands on your time, the program equally values clinical training, qualitative research, and scholarship. All of these include philosophical inquiry into the foundations of our field. While each student crafts his or her own vocational path, emphasizing one area or another, our approach and curriculum are guided by an appreciation that clinical practice, research, and scholarship mutually inform and enhance one another.
All applicants to the Ph.D. program must have earned a Bachelor's degree at an accredited institution, and by the time of application completed a minimum of 12 credits of coursework in Psychology. We require that 6 of the 12 credits be from an Introduction to Psychology course and a Psychological Disorders course. In addition, and whereas it is not a requirement, we strongly recommend a course in the Psychology of Personality as well. The Bachelors degree does not have to be in Psychology.
Yes, we require the TOEFL for all International students. The GRE exam is no longer required.
Although there is no cut-of for GPA's we generally consider applications to be competitive with GPA's above 3.5. The Graduate Programs at Duquesne University expect a TOEFL score between 80-100 iBT (internet based test), particularly in our program since graduate students are expected to teach.
In this program you receive funding from the University, your tuition will be waived and you will receive a stipend while you are completing your course-work. You will receive the stipend for nine months out of the year. In exchange for the stipend you will do 15 hours research a week for a professor in your first year. In your second, third and fourth years you will teach an undergraduate course. It is also required that you stay registered while working on your internship and dissertation before defending the dissertation; these credits are the responsibility of the student. This usually involves 6 dissertation credits.
The Clinical Ph.D. Program entails seventy nine credits of required and elective graduate courses, successful completion of the comprehensive exams, the completion of a one-year pre-doctoral internship, and the successful defense of a dissertation. It is possible to complete the program in five years, but most students graduate in six or seven years.
Only full-time students are accepted in to the program.
We do not offer any program classes online.
We admit all candidates as first-year Ph.D. students, and we do not give advanced standing along with or prior to admission. After admission, you can petition to have particular courses transferred from your previous graduate work, this is never done in an across the board manner. We only give credit for courses that more or less match our own.
Your writing sample should be an excellent example of your ability to write a scholarly paper. The paper you submit should be on a subject close to psychology, philosophy, and/or religion, literature or a social science, if possible.

Funding for 5th-year Students

We understand that funding a doctoral degree can be an obstacle in your educational journey and wish to help our students as much as possible. Below are a few options available to our 5th year students, but our list of funding options is always growing. 

The  Charlotte W. Newcombe Doctoral Dissertation Fellowships are designed to encourage original and significant study of ethical or religious values in all fields of the humanities and social sciences, and particularly to help Ph.D. candidates in these fields complete their dissertation work in a timely manner.

The Peace Scholar Fellowship Program, which awards scholarships to doctoral candidates at U.S. universities researching and writing dissertations with clear relevance for policy and practice in the field of international peacebuilding and conflict management.


The NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts is the official publication for NIH medical and behavioral research grant policies, guidelines and funding opportunities.

Through its Fellowship Programs, the Ford Foundation Fellowship program seeks to increase the diversity of the nation's college and university faculties by increasing their ethnic and racial diversity, to maximize the educational benefits of diversity, and to increase the number of professors who can and will use diversity as a resource for enriching the education of all students.

Additional funding options are available, please contact the Department of Psychology for more information.

Dissertations in Progress

  • Anderson, Joseph - Sartre and Psychoanalysis: A Theoretical and Practical Investigation
  • Corsitto, Jackie - Collecting the strands: A Psychoanalytic study on hair-pulling in women
  • Culler, Cristina - An exploration of the psychological impacts of code-switching
  • Devine, Matthew - Illness terminable or interminable: A qualitative psychoanalytic study on suicide and assisted dying in the case of mental illness
  • Goodwin, Lucas - Excessive before it begins: A critical analysis of racialized encounters between police and African American men
  • Guzman, Erick - Neuropunk: A discursive ethnographic study of the do-it-yourself transcranial direct current stimulation community
  • Hamann, Jennifer - Body, space, others and time in the sacred boxing ring: A psychological ethnographic study of a first nation coast Salish boxing team
  • Lampe, Anna - Oppressive breathlessness: A critical, hermeneutic phenomenological study of asthma in Clairton, PA
  • Landry, Brad - Locating Play in process: D.W. Winnicott & the therapeutic power of collaborative assessment
  • Lee, Casey - Help me live it the way you do: Grounding Singaporean responses to the Rorschach situation
  • Rivera, Andres - Analysing De-Colonial Subjectivities in Reggaeton and Latin-Trap music in Puerto Rico: A critical discourse analysis 
  • Sharma, Prathma - Becoming a therapist in a foreign land: Narratives of international trainee clinicians of color in the U.S.
  • Stich, Brianna - The hoard as symptom and text: A hermeneutic-phenomenological reading of hoarding disorder through psychoanalysis
  • Sukhdeo, Conor - An existential phenomenological perspective on Eco-Anxiety in the youth population